Exit of Crucial from consumer business: Difference between revisions
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|Description=Micron announces the exit of Crucial from consumer business to focus in AI and datacenters}} | |Description=Micron announces the exit of Crucial from consumer business to focus in AI and datacenters}} | ||
On December 3, 2025 [[Micron|Micron Technology]] announced that Crucial will exit from the consumer business to focus in the AI business. | On December 3, 2025 [[Micron|Micron Technology]] announced that Crucial will exit from the consumer business to focus in the AI business.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Benj |date=2025-12-03 |title=After nearly 30 years, Crucial will stop selling RAM to consumers |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260216094824/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/ |archive-date=2026-02-16 |access-date=2026-03-14}}</ref> | ||
Micron will do Crucial product shipments until February 2026. Micron will "provide continued warranty service and support for Crucial products" and "continue to support the sale of Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel customers globally" | Micron will do Crucial product shipments until February 2026. Micron will "provide continued warranty service and support for Crucial products" and "continue to support the sale of Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel customers globally" | ||
<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 Dec 2025 |title=Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business |url=https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business |url-status=live |archive-url=https:// | <ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=3 Dec 2025 |title=Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business |url=https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260124004930/https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business |archive-date=24 Jan 2026|access-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
The high interest towards artificial intelligence and their lucrative capacity has caused many tech companies to invest on it to increase their revenue. {{Citation needed}} | The high interest towards artificial intelligence and their lucrative capacity has caused many tech companies to invest on it to increase their revenue. {{Citation needed}} For the consumer market, there are only 3 major companies that make DRAM known as "The Big Three": Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/3057590/report-desperate-pc-manufacturers-turn-to-china-for-ram.html|title=Report: Desperate PC manufacturers are turning to China for RAM|date=2026-02-10|work=PC World|first=Michael|last=Crider |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260212071148/https://www.pcworld.com/article/3057590/report-desperate-pc-manufacturers-turn-to-china-for-ram.html |archive-date=12 Feb 2026}}</ref> | ||
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==Incident== | ==Incident== | ||
Micron announced they quit from consumer business with a justification to supply the AI industry<ref name=":0" />: | |||
{{Quote|''The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments''}} | |||
===Affected products=== | ===Affected products=== | ||
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==Micron's response== | ==Micron's response== | ||
In January 2026, WCCFetch released an interview with Christopher Moore, Micron's VP of Marketing, Mobile and Client Business Unit. | In January 2026, WCCFetch released an interview with Christopher Moore, Micron's VP of Marketing, Mobile and Client Business Unit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zuhair |first=Muhammad |date=11 Jan 2026 |title=Micron Exclusive: Why Consumers Have Gotten the Memory Shortage Narrative All Wrong |url=https://wccftech.com/micron-exclusive-why-consumers-have-gotten-the-memory-shortage-narrative-all-wrong/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260304214014/https://wccftech.com/micron-exclusive-why-consumers-have-gotten-the-memory-shortage-narrative-all-wrong/ |archive-date=2026-03-04}}</ref> When asked whether memory suppliers are inclined towards catering to the AI sectors and leaving consumers behind. Moore replied using [[dark patterns]] in an attempt to convince users that they're "helping consumers around the world": | ||
{{Quote|''Well, first I would want to try to help everybody understand that the perception may not be exactly correct, at least from our point of view. So I would never want to tell someone what to think or that they're wrong, but our viewpoint is that we are trying to help consumers around the world. We're just doing it through different channels. We still have a very sizable business in the client and mobile markets. We are also, of course, servicing our data center customers. | {{Quote|''Well, first I would want to try to help everybody understand that the perception may not be exactly correct, at least from our point of view. So I would never want to tell someone what to think or that they're wrong, but our viewpoint is that we are trying to help consumers around the world. We're just doing it through different channels. We still have a very sizable business in the client and mobile markets. We are also, of course, servicing our data center customers. | ||
And what's going on right now is that the TAM and data center is growing just absolutely tremendously. And we want to make sure that, as a company, we help fulfill that TAM as well.''}} | And what's going on right now is that the TAM and data center is growing just absolutely tremendously. And we want to make sure that, as a company, we help fulfill that TAM as well.''}} | ||
==Consumer response== | ==Consumer response== | ||
Micron's decision to supply AI businesses and Moore's response caused | Micron's decision to supply AI businesses and Moore's response caused outrage by consumers. {{Citation needed}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||